Flanker Carl Kirwan insists his Warriors side want the Aviva Premiership’s top teams to respect them ahead of their final two games of the 2015/16 campaign.
Warriors travel to Welford Road this Saturday to face Leicester Tigers (kick-off 3pm), who are fresh off the back of a European Champions Cup semi-final defeat to French giants Racing 92.
And Kirwan knows the Tigers will be difficult to break down, as they look to cement a place in the Aviva Premiership play-offs.
He said: “Leicester are a very strong side, they’re well placed for a top-four spot and will be looking to bounce back from last weekend.
“But it’s exactly the kind of game we want. We want to test ourselves against the best and we want the best to respect us.
“We can only do that by going out and putting our game on the field and matching them back physically and making them think twice about who Worcester Warriors are.”
Warriors face Saracens at Sixways in their final game of the 2015/16 campaign on Saturday 7 May and Kirwan insists if they are to progress and move up the table next season, then they must take some big scalps.
He explained: “We want to finish the campaign on a winning note. Next season we want to achieve more and finish higher in the league and we’re only going to do that by taking out teams like Leicester and Saracens so that’s the goal in the next couple of weeks.”
Kirwan has been one of Warriors’ success stories this season, having worked his way into the first-team after having been restricted to Aviva A League and European Challenge Cup appearances earlier in the campaign.
And the all-action back row insists it’s a sense of hard work having paid off.
He added: “I knew the strength and depth of the squad when I arrived at Sixways, especially in the back row. I knew it’d be hard but I just came in and got my head down.
“As a professional sportsman you always want to play. You train your hardest and try to better yourself.
“The A League was important. In one of the games against Sale they pretty much had a Premiership backline so it’s always good to play against sides with that kind of talent and at that level.
“So when I finally got my chance in the first-team it was a sense of hard work having paid off. You just want to get that shot and after working hard it was great to get the opportunity to start in the Premiership and I’ve just been trying to move forward ever since.”